2nd Animation Hall of Fame

The Sword in the Stone is a film that I've often defended from friends and acquaintances who dismissed it, or thought that it completely failed to live up to Disney's standards. No one else seemed to have a copy of it when they were young, so I've always wondered if nostalgia might be colouring my opinion of a mediocre film, or if it really was an underrated classic. While I do still think the film deserves more respect than it typically receives, I have to admit that it's far less magical than I remembered it being.

The animation is not immaculate, but I've always found that those little imperfections give a certain charm or character to the images that modern techniques miss out on. Even though the backgrounds are quite static, I liked their style and use of colour. There's a minimal number of musical numbers in the film, which is something I appreciate just as much now as I did when I was a kid, but if I ever have to watch this again, I'm skipping over every one of them.

My biggest problem with the film is that it doesn't really work for me as an adult. Much of the story seems pointless, since it's just Arthur and Merlin getting themselves into avoidable trouble. These segments do teach morality lessons to children, but I get absolutely nothing out of them now. I like that Merlin is clumsy and absent-minded, but the slapstick comedy involving him often just made me cringe. I did enjoy some of the dialogue, but could do without the occasional 4th wall breaking. I do still like it more than much of Disney's later offerings, but overall it ended up being a rather mixed bag.